[IC] Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

[Hero]

Nadeline would spot Wesley and would turn deathly silent, her previous shenanigans disappearing. Grant looked between her and Wesley, noticing how they refused to look at one another. Had they fought? Most likely...it would explain why Nadeline had gone drinking. He didn't have to wonder what it was about, either; Nadeline's slurring obviously meant that she had found out about how they had kept secrets from her. He wanted to be relieved that she was blaming Wesley and not him, but he was pretty sure once she sobered up she would come after him next. Oh joy.

"Reunited at last!" Grant would attempt to lighten the mood, guiding Emiri to Savayna and Wesley. "Emiri, this is Wesley, prince of Dalmasca, and Savayna, the love of my life." He would introduce them.

"Pleased to meet you." Emiri replied slowly, though she was preoccupied with the guy that had gotten kicked out of the bar.

[AlteredTundra]

Instnatly, Savayna got all red on her face. It wasn't not secret that her and Grant were an item, but to so casually state it and even more so, to say it in such a way made Savayna perk down, her eyes down, arms in center, and head down. Though, after a few seconds, she would curl up her fists. "Oh Grant darling~" She would cheerfully sing as she whacked him aside the head...hard. Afterwards(no doubt a yelp from Grant), Savayna would then kiss her baby's head after she had whacked it pretty damn hard. "There, there — all better."

As JAakuna raised an eyebrow, he just ignored Savayna for the time being and looked at everyone else. "We should get out of here. Lots of stuff to talk about and not really wanting to do it here." Jaakuna suggested as he would motion everyone to follow him out and to the Aerodome.

[Hero]

Grant rubbed his head, slightly hurt that Savayna would hit him. He had just wanted to clarify that she was the only one for him. Perhaps he had been too presumptuous. Emiri ended up laughing at him a little bit, though she would stay quiet as Jaakuna would suggest going to the Aerodome. Nadeline would let out a protest but Grant would drag the princess along as she clearly didn't know what she was saying, As they entered the Ifrit, Grant was glad that they were all together again, truly, but at the same time things had just been so different. Emiri was basically a stranger, Jaakuna was obviously affected and suffering, Nadeline and Wesley were fighting...and no doubt Grant's own guilt was making things difficult for him as well.

Emiri would take her seat at the dining room table by her basket of flowers and would continue with her threading of the floral wreath. Only when she was doing so did Nadeline finally notice her hair was down and not in her usual ponytail. "Emi, where is your clover hair tie?" She asked her.

"I don't know." She replied without bothering to look up.

Nadeline remained silent, albeit a little hurt, as she sat down next to her. "You really don't know who I am, do you?" She asked her quietly.

"You're the princess of Rozarria, Nadeline."

She opened her mouth to protest, but would close it and let out a sigh. "I can't believe it...you really have forgotten..."

[AlteredTundra]

Even though Jaakuna didn't want to, he had to bid farewell to his two good friends, WEndy and Lannit. Wesley and Savayna even seemed to be slightly disappointed, but after going to his mother's house and telling her about everything that happened(lots of crying happened), he was just ready to say goodbye to Balfonheim and hello to wherever the hell that they were going to go. Eventually when they said goodbye to the duo, the party would head to the aerodome. The walk to it was more or less quiet, at least on the Wesley and Nadeline front. They still were angry at each other; or at least, one of them was angry at the other.

When they entered the Ifrit, they would all sit down at the table and Jaakuna would ask IRIS to set a course for Archades. At the very least, if they wanted to, they could meet up with Lannit and Wendy there and even Jaakuna would visit his father. Gods know he needed some time with him. As he thought about seeing his father again, Jaakuna, as well as everyone else, would hear Nadeline and Emiri exchanging words about how she truly didn't remember anything aside form what she's been told and the obvious base info she seemed to retain.

Wesley looked at everyone and he tried his best not to gaze too long at Nadeline as no doubt she was still pretty pissed off at him. "Jaakuna, Grant — there's something you need to know." Wesley said.

Jaakuna looked at Wesley. "Oh?"

"Zodiark and Levi — I have suspicions that they're working together."

[Hero]

Levi. Just hearing the snake woman's name made him slightly angry. For some reason this didn't shock him at all, albeit the surprise was there. What would an Esper want with a human, anyway? As he thought about it somewhat, he would remember how Vlyn would tell him Ivalice was in turmoil. He had to wonder what would happen next, truly. Without realizing it he had been staring at Jaakuna, though he would close his eyes. When he opened them Nadeline would be next to him, having heard the conversation. She didn't seem surprised at all, although she was there, so it made sense.

"Our next course of plan should be obvious, then." She would state, crossing her arms. "There's only one Esper left."

"Yes, but...where could it be?" Grant asked.

Her eyes looked at him for a moment. "Giruvegan. In the Great Crystal. "

[AlteredTundra]

Jaakuna blinked in disbelief. He knew that Levi was evil, but he didn't even once to think about that she could possibly be working with Zodiark or even for him. That truly and genuinely surprised him. Then again, he did notice some type of black and blue cloud-like explosion in the distance when they touched ground in Balfonheim, so perhaps it had to do with that. Even still, Jaakuna found it really hard to believe. "Are you sure?" JAakuna asked Wesley.

"I'm not sure about anything regarding her and Zodiark, but when she confronted us in The Pharos, there were black tendrils, which has been come to be the proof of ZOdiark. So, I guess what I'm saying is that yes, I'm sure." Wesley said.

Jaakuna would then hear Nadeline mention that their next course of action would be to get the final esper. Jaakuna wasn't book smart, but he could have sworn there was one other missing. "Okay, I'm not the smartest tool in the shed, but wasn't there another we have to find?" JAakuna asked.

Wesley nodded. "Famfrit, The Darkening Cloud. However, if that one has yet to be claimed, it's too late. He, like my own, was also found in The Pharos." Wesley would state. "As if someone had gotten him before or after the explosion happened, is unknown to me."

Jaakuna thought about everything and on the mention of Giruvegan, he was brought back to when Zodiark first worked his way into their lives. "Giruvegan.." He shuttered. "I get chills just thinking about it." Jaakuna admitted, "but I guess we have no choice." He said, "IRIS, set a course for Giruvegan or at least somewhere very close by to it."

"Yes, Master Jaakuna!"

[Hero]

Nadeline would nod in approval at Jaakuna's command. "Now that only leaves one thing." She stated, uncrossing her arms. "What do we do with Emiri? Is she able to battle, or would she get in the way?" She asked, head on confronting the obvious. "It would be nice if we could all go together, but realistically speaking we do not know how dangerous Ultima is...or rather, because she is the last Esper, that is precisely why we need to discuss this." She pointed out. She would much rather get it out in the open now then start arguing when they landed. She did want to bring Emiri, but the facts were there.

Grant would scratch his chin, looking back at Emiri. She was nearly done with the wreath at this point. "Maybe...maybe when she finishes, her memories will come back."

"Not all at once." Nadeline shook her head. "That would be rather overwhelming."

[AlteredTundra]

"It's quite simply really." Jaakuna said, "I will stay with her while the four you go to Giruvegan. Her staying behind is a definite and I shall not leave her side anymore." Jaakuna said settling that.

Welsey made a noise hinting that he agreed with Jaakuna. It was smart that JAakuna would stay back, though there was probably the other matter that Nadeline, Savayna, and WEsley himself wanted to address. "With that out of the way, shall we address the elephant in the room?" Wesley said.

Jaakuna eyed Wesley. "And what would that be?" He asked cautiously.

"Where on Ivalice have you been?"

[Hero]

Jaakuna would want to stay behind with Emiri. This was understandable, though something bothered Nadeline. It was the way he said it, she was almost positive that even should she have recovered, he mostly likely would have said the exact same thing. It was certainly admirable, but what if they needed his help? Grant was thinking the same thing, though he would not oppose it. He was in no position to be deciding anything for Emiri. Never again. Wesley would then address the other issue, one nearly everyone had been curious about. "Jahara and Eruyt, apparently." Grant would answer in Jaakuna's stead, having been informed of it already. He would look at Nadeline. "To excise Zodiark out of him, he went to Aloa."

"Really now?" She asked, somewhat curious. "How did it go?"

[AlteredTundra]

From Grant telling the group where he went to Nadeline asking about how it went, Jaakuna just sighed as he would take a breath in. He wanted to get the right words out before he would speak. Taking his breath out slowly, Jaakuna just let the relaxing aura surround him. "It was good for the most part." He said, "I admit, Zodiark was not fully exercised from my body, but along the way, I was able — well forced was more like it — to tackle the issues that have been with me since early teenhood." Jaakuna said as he just looked at everyone. "There were seven steps and I didn't complete the final one." Jaakuna said as he would slightly look down.

Wesley looked at JAakuna with an eyebrow raised. He wondered what the final step would make JAakuna do. "And what was this final step?" Wesley asked as he knew everyone else wanted to know.

Jaakuna looked at Wesley and sighed again. "To complete it, I would have to detach myself from my physical body, open myself to my inner-wisdom, and in turn, my 'true strength' would be realized." JAakuna just realized he was echoing what Aloa had said. "In other words, I would have to remove myself from any bonds I have made — good or bad — and become a monk. Or at least, that's the way I perceived it as."

[Hero]

To say she wasn't surprised was an understatement. Nadeline had a feeling that it had been incomplete for some reason, though she couldn't fathom why. Of course as an emotional person Jaakuna would find it rather difficult to detach himself from his bonds. Heck, it was a difficult task for most people in general. Still, she found herself slightly disappointed, she found it fascinating and would have loved to discuss what had happened exactly with Jaakuna. Alas, it was not meant to be, it seemed. Still, perhaps even if it hadn't been completed, there may have been some use to it after all.

"Well, alright then. I'm off to prepare myself, the Pharos was quite a trip and I need to resupply." Nadeline would excuse herself, heading for the Supply Room.

Grant watched her leave, and as soon as she was out of earshot, he felt that he had to ask. "It's none of my business, and you don't have to say why, but...are you and Nadeline fighting?" He asked Wesley quietly.

[AlteredTundra]

As Nadeline excused herself, Grant would instantly ask what it was between her and Wesley, though he would state that the Dalmascan prince didn't have to say why. Wesley pondered on if he should tell Grant the full story. He didn't want to think on what Grant would think about him if he did, but not telling him fully would probably make things worse.

Wesley just looked at Grant. "She found out that I kept Jaakuna's secret about Emiri's...situation and as you can probably guess, she let me have it." Oh boy did she ever. The secret wasn't fully to blame either. Wesley sure added fuel to the fire by clutching onto his honor. Though, it wasn't Wesley's fault that he liked to think of himself as an honorable man and he wanted to uphold that. Though, the fact of the matter was that Wesley didn't tell Nadeline everything and apparently that was a bad thing.

[Hero]

Grant would nod in understanding, though truth be told, he knew he was about to experience Nadeline's wrath as soon as the two were alone together. He was to blame too, of course, and being Nadeline's uncle meant that he was going to get Wesley's punishment thrice-fold. He was definitely not looking forward to it. He would scratch his chin lightly, though he did remember something else. "That reminds me, whatever happened to getting the ring in Balfonheim?" He asked, noticing the absence of Nadeline's finger. "Did something happen to it?"

[AlteredTundra]

When Grant would ask about the ring, Wesley felt instantly felt like if he told, he would be looked down upon. The fact of the matter was that Levi had the ring and what was even worse, she had married his uncle, which would make Levi Wesley’s aunt, but how was he going to tell Grant that. “It’s complicated.” He said scratching the side of his face with his right index finger. “The ring, well that is you see..” Wesley took a deep breath and just spoke. “The ring was stolen from my mother by my Uncle Clyde who gave it to Levi, who killed him, and when we went to see my uncle was parading in his dead body and told us that she and him got married and well that’s that.” Wesley said not even taking a breather. “So, long story short: Levi has it and she’s my aunt.”

Jaakuna and Savayna overheard and boy if they did not hear it from the source, they would have never believed it. To think that Levi married his uncle and killed him. Even more bizarre, she paraded around in his dead body as him. “We have seriously fucked up families.” Savayna would muse aloud. Jaakuna would just nod comically, eyes closed, arms folded across his chest, and just repeating “mhm mhm.“

[Hero]

Grant should have been mortified, or surprised at least. Instead he found himself imagining what Wesley had described. "Ew." He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "That is...why would...how messed up do you have to be to...No, just...ew." He shuddered, trying to get the image out of his head, though to no avail. "My gods that is just terrible, why would anyone do that?" He was clearly very grossed out and had a hard time accepting it. As Savayna would state that their families were...fucked up...he had no idea what to say, really. He scratched his head for a moment, though he did get something. "Well, that just leaves it to us to fix it, right?" He would ask somewhat optimistically.

In the dining room, the basket was nearly devoid of flowers at this point. Emiri had been working nonstop, hoping to finish the wreath sooner than later. To her delight, it was very much complete and very nice looking. She would applaud herself and after a few seconds of celebration she would uncork the bottle Ryua had given her. All she had to do was sprinkle it on, right? She lightly tapped the bottle, though nothing would come out. With a small frown she tapped it again. Nothing. She held the bottle upside down and saw nothing coming out. Holding it up to her eye, she would see that it was definitely in there...just not...coming out. She held it upside down over the wreath and shook the bottle meticulously, though she would give up.

"Jaakuna!" She called him, hoping to get some assistance. "It won't come out!"

[AlteredTundra]

Wesley completely understood Grant’s reaction. Now that he actually had time to digest it, he too felt disgusted by what Levi did. Not only the fact that she killed his uncle right after he proposed to her(that still gets him), but she would parade in his dead body and just shed it right in front of him. That would forever be imprinted into his brain and never will be removed even through hours upon hours of therapy. Wesley would hear Jaakuna and just shook his head. “And here I thought my family was going to be the less crazy one.” Wesley would just shake his head even more.

As Jaakuna thought about it more, he didn’t want to. Thankfully for him, Emiri would call for his assistance with the bottle. He did see her try to get it out, but it was to no avail. He would change seats to which he was next to Emiri. “Hmm, let’s see.” He said as he would look at the vile. “Oh, Emiri..” He said looking at her. He would take the vile from her gently and he would lightly shake the bottle around the flower wreath and little specs of the Dream Powder would be sprinkled on it. “There you go, my love.” Jaakuna smiled happily and lightly kissed Emiri on the lips.

[Hero]

The brunette's jaw would drop as Jaakuna would (very easily at that) sprinkle the Dream Powder over the wreath. She would watch him, as if he had some sort of secret to it, and he would be finished in seconds. He was more then happy to do it, and would even kiss her lightly. It made her very happy, she could tell this was genuine. "Thank you." She said, though she blushed lightly from her embarrassment of looking somewhat inadequate. After a moment the orange Dream Powder would glitter a nice blue color. She would take it as the magical dust doing its job. She would place the wreath on her head and waited. And waited. And waited. Well, she didn't wait that long, really, but she noticed nothing in particular would happen. Perhaps it was meant to be something gradual.

Instead of getting down about it, she would raise an eyebrow at Jaakuna. "How do I look?" She asked, raising her hands as if posing.

[AlteredTundra]

As Emiri would thank Jaakuna(and blush), she would then just sit there as if she was waiting for it to work automatically. She would then, obviously content to wait it out, look to Jaakuna. She would do some sort of corny pose asking Jaakuna how she looked. He just smiled, chuckled, and spoke. “Like the fairest in the land.” Jaakuna said smiling and lightly booping her nose.

[Hero]

Emiri pouted slightly as he chuckled, though she admitted herself rather satisfied with his answer. Even though it wasn't immediate, she would have to make due with what she had. Even now, as she sat with Jaakuna, her dormant feelings would rise more than ever. Something, however, would tug at her heartstrings, and she got the feeling that something had happened that made her never want to be apart from him. He did mention that he had left, but she had not understood at the time. Maybe now she did, and that was why she felt that way. That was alright. She wanted to be with him, always, especially for these moments. "So then, what will we do now?" She asked him curiously. "We're all together again...but there's something we need to do, right?"

[AlteredTundra]

“Actually, they will be going. You and I will be staying here.” Jaakuna would state rather bluntly. It was true that Emiri and Jaakuna were staying, but he did not want to hide it. He saw what his lies and secrets did to his friends and he didn’t want to do that anymore.

Wesley was rather shocked that Jaakuna right out and said it. “JAakuna is right. While you two stay here, the rest of us will venture into Giruvegan and obtain The High Seraph.” Wesley said as he did not want to reveal too much that would alarm Emiri. Besides, with the lack of Emiri’s memory and Jaakuna’s less-than perfect exercisement of Zodiark, there was no guarantee that it would add to their chances of winning. There was also the fact that Ultima was the strongest Esper right behind Zodiark. If the remnants of Zodiark in Jaakuna got in the way, it truly would be very, very bad for the group’s chances of winning.